LA Splash Lip Couture - Hidden Desires Swatches & Review

16 March 2016

Purchased by me/Contains affiliate links

The LA Splash Lip Couture range has been all the rage recently, particularly with people looking for alternatives to Lime Crime Velvetines, so I decided to pick one up and see what all the fuss was about. If you want a highly pigmented lipstick that will last all day, you definitely need to check these out!

Matte liquid lipsticks seem to have quickly become LA Splash's forte, they have four different versions of the formula which are differentiated by different coloured caps and varying packaging and applicators. The Lip Couture range has a gold cap and a long applicator that tapers on each side, the Smitten Lip Tint Mousse have pink caps and small doefoot applicators, the StudioShine Waterproof Lip Lustres have silver caps and angled medium doefoots, and still a fourth range, the Velvet Matte Liquid Lipsticks have a red chrome cap, a frosted barrel and angled medium doefoots.

The long, tapered applicator present here isn't a style I'm overly keen on - the length feels unwieldy - but it does the job well enough and I was able to outline and fill in my lips easily with it.

Hidden Desires is a vibrant orchid purple with great colour pay off. The formula feels similar to MUA and Makeup Revolution's lip lacquers, if you've tried those - it's quite thick and paint like. This thickness tends to show more with additional layering; I needed two coats for opaque colour on my lower lip and you can see it's looking thicker there and has a slightly plastic sheen. You'll want to give it a good couple of minutes between layers as until dry the formula remains quite tacky and can streak or remove sections if over-manipulated or allowed to touch too soon.

When I tested for wear, Hidden Desires lasted a solid seven hours on me, after that remnants continued to linger for a further three and a half hours but it was looking pretty beaten up at that point - and understandably so, after ten hours! The thickness didn't make it uncomfortable to wear, in fact it was only minimally drying toward the end of wear. It has an odd, chemical kind of scent.

I'm kind of left feeling ambivalent about this product. I adore the colour and the longevity's definitely a selling point, but the thickness isn't my favourite. It's also worth noting that at $14USD, these aren't that much cheaper than formulas I personally prefer, like Jeffree Star's Velour Liquid Lipsticks ($18USD).

A tip for international readers - these seem to be cheaper by a dollar or so on Ebay compared to LA Splash's webstore, many of the listings I saw had free international shipping too. LA Splash's international shipping is an astronomical $27.95USD flat rate (including insurance - I'd bloody hope so, at that price!).